Governments gently cajoling people towards better life choices is only one side of the nudge theory.

Blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana, in 2010. The losses produced by polluting companies should cost as ‘negative’ for a country’s growth.
Reuters/US Coast Guard/FilesOctober 9, 2017

South Africa's governing ANC has always seen economic growth as the driving force for change. This was wishful thinking as the damage done by apartheid will take far more to undo.

In Cuba, unlike in many Latin American countries, when you see children on the street, they’re not begging; they’re playing. And therein lies Castro’s dilemma: how to reform Cuba’s stagnant economy without losing what’s working?
Dan Lundberg/flickrJuly 28, 2017

Professor of Comparative Political Science and Democracy Research at the Humboldt University Berlin; Associate of the Sydney Democracy Network, University of Sydney; Director of Research Unit Democracy: Structures, Performance, Challenges, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.